Yesterday was Dia de Revolucion down here in Mexico and not only did a good North wind show up, but it brought along my local protégés from La Paz, Mex. 20 de Noviembre being a national holiday they had the day off of school Julian and Moi came out for their first windsurf day of the season. Having not sailed in 7 months they were a bit rusty and were also missing a few pieces of their rigs. They were really stoked when I told them to leave their stuff at the house and come down to the gear sheds and use my Naish gear. Moi went crazy over the new Freestyle 90. I have been training these kids for the last 6 years and they are now getting spocks, flakas, shuvits and forwards. Their favorite joke is that I am sponsored by Naish and they are sponsored by me, since I always make sure they have gear to use.

Fun abounds down here, but I guess we haven't done anything crazy enough lately to stir up a new post. Gotta be more on it cause we sure have been having a ton of fun.

The water and air are still warm, haven't even though of putting on a shorty yet.

Last 4 days have been solid 4.8 - 5.4 all afternoon. Been blasting around on quads mornings and evenings, drinking ballenas on the couch with raucous games of couchball. Watching the full moon rise at sunset. Eating Tacos and bacon wrapped Rucci dogs. Partying to various degrees. Snorkeling and spearfishing. I guess it is just all too normal. Well that should all end today as Casey Hauser and Bryan Metcalf-Perez are due to show up this evening after a 12 hour drive from Guerrero Negro. They are spinning tales of giant NW swell and Mast hight 5.0 sessions at Alejandro's in the 7 sisters with JP Bowles. A new crew always encourages a little fiesta. Plus today is the 3rd day of slalom racing for the La Ventana Race Series probably post some photos from that later.

For those of you looking for a warm, windy, spring time destination Tyson and I have just confirmed the dates for our annual Cabarete Pro Clinics.

We have teamed up with Vela Cabarate for the 2nd year in a row and will be running two back to back week long clinics.

April 8-12 and April 15-19.

If you have never been, Cabarete is awesome, super warm and windy. The set up is kinda like Maui where you have a big flat / bump and jump area on the inside and then you go 200yds out and you have a nice reef with gentle waves and a nice channel to sneak out. The SUPing is incredible and the night time parties go off. No need to drive anywhere just walk down from the hotels to the Vela center on the beach. All the bars and restaurants are right next to each other so you can cruise the strip to your hearts content barefoot if you like. Food is cheap and good and the rum flows like water.

We will be running clinics all afternoon, and will taper the topics to the group. Since we have two instructors we can always split the group up for separate topics if need be. It went really well last year (will never forget everyone freaking out on how achievable a one handed lay-down jibe was).

Just finished the 4th set of slalom races here at the La Ventana Race series. This was by far the best slalom we have had. I was out on my JP 59 and Neil Pryde 7.0 pretty lit! Was stoked to get out on the fast gear and hold on for some races. Neil Foley was setting up the course in the 25knot with one of the Mexican panga captains. Huge thanks to him for sitting on the boat all day, running the races. I think keeping Neil and the captain well stocked with Pacificos helped a bit...

The first race started off with a good start at the line, allowing me to get some really good separation from the pack by the first buoy. Everything changed though when I was rounding the second mark. I was taking it a bit too easy and ended up crashing, allowing good friend and training partner, Casey Hauser, to pass me, along with kiter Adam Withington. I finally got my sail out of the water and knew I had some work to do if I didn't want to lose to the kiter, let alone Casey. By the second to last leg, I was able to pass Adam and come within a board length of Casey. Ended up getting a second in that race, even though I had a good start. Got to hear about it from Casey the whole way back up the course to the start line.

Second race went a lot better. Hit the start right on time and never looked back. Decided not to take it easy through the course on this one. I turned the speed on in the straights, and hammered the jibes, putting a good distance between me and Casey Hauser in second place.

The third race was very much the same, except I decided to start at the boat this time, instead of the pin. The wind was blasting, so I was able to take a lot deeper line to the first mark, keeping my board under control at the higher speeds. Casey and I hit the start at the same time, but I was able to drop in front of him half way to the first mark, dumping all my bad wind on him. I could hear him yelling at me the whole way to the buoy. Almost ate shit because I was laughing at the things he was saying. Made it to the first mark ahead of the pack and stayed that way till the finish.

We took a break after that race for some water and to change gear. While we were all on the beach, Neil and the captain drove around and changed the start line without telling anyone. For the first three races, the pin was wayyyy favored, only being able to hit the boat if you were wayyy over powered. I think I was the only one who noticed the change because the next two races I was hitting the boat when the rest of the pack was hitting the pin. It allowed me to put a good lead in front of everyone before the first mark.

The last race of the day was a bit tricky. First of all, the wind was dying fast, but we didn't have enough time to re-rig. Secondly, the second mark had broke lose and was drifting really far downwind. It drifted so deep, that after casey and I rounded the first mark, We didn't think we could make it to the second one. This gave Adam and his kite a huge advantage. I was really underpowered and watched Adam scream by me on his way to the second mark. I wasn't going to let this happen. I did all that I could to keep up my speed and stay within three board lengths behind him. As he hit the second mark, he crashed, allowing me to catch up a bit. The thing is, when a kiter crashes, they don't come to a complete stop, and it is much quicker for them to get up and going. Also, you cant really get around them because of the lines. He was able to butt check and get right back up. The thing that helped me was that because the buoy had drifted so far, it made the third leg really tight. This is where a windsurfer is a lot faster. I was able to make up the two board lengths behind that I was, as well as put at least three in front of him before hitting the third mark. After that, I had clean wind and water all the way to the finish line.

All in all, I ended the day with one 2nd place and four 1st places. Stoked on how the race series is going and that we have had wind for every one of them. Thanks to everyone who came out for the races. Looking forward to the next one! See you on the water!

Its been pretty good here the last few days as we have a mild Norte wind on hand. Casey Hauser and Bryan Metcalf-Perez finally rolled in so there is tons of action on the water. Walked down to the beach the other day to get some shots of the boys and they said they wanted to sail something different, so I suggested hitting the shorebreak half way down to the buffadore. They were stoked on the idea so I cruised down the beach and got set up so I could shoot looking back at town. Got a couple good hours in and the shots are some of the best I have seen down here from a non-professional such as myself.

Tyson is headed to Japan for a wave contest tomorrow, while we head over to Los Barilles at weeks end to watch one of the Baja 250km offroad races which is supposed to come screaming down the beach in Los Barilles. Plus is looks like we have a pretty solid Norte showing up Sat-Monday. That should cool the water down a bit ...we are still trunking it....not sooo stoked for the cooler water but it does give a bit of thrust to the normal thermal days.

The Norte has been a little slow in arriving yet somehow we manage to eak out some fun.

Thursday poured rain all day probably the most I have ever seen in a single day. Then around 1pm the power went out and stayed out until about 8pm. Didn't stop pall the little restaurants from keeping the kitchens going and the candle lit tables were pretty nice.

Friday we cruised around on the quads with zero dust and great traction on account of the freshly soaked desert. After the ride the gang went up to Las Palmas restaurant for the start of an afternoon down winds SUP. Wind was around 18 so some of the crew went out windsurfing on big stuff.

Friday night we headed over to Los Barilles to watch the final of the Baja 250km offroad race series. Town was packed with thousands of cheering fans. The course took the racers down the beach, up the north arroyo through the hills, then down the south arroyo and back across the beach with 4 laps. It was pretty epic as each time the trucks came around they were missing more and more fenders. The stock VW bug class was hilarious to watch I definitely did not envy them bumping around with limited suspension.

End of the day I cruised back to LV on the coast road from Los Barilles, stunning views and nice tacky terrain.

Now its ......uhhh Sunday and the Norte is already hitting, clouds are retreating and it looks like we are in for a good blow.

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